I recently looked through my previous entries and noticed how dark I have become after joining the Peace Corps. I guess I had a lot of stuff to be stripped away of from the material to the physical comforts and my absolutely ridiculous passion for luxury.

On Facebook, there has been a recent note that has been going around where you ‘tag’ your friends and write 25 random things about yourself to others. My friend Daniel, in all his wit, selected 25 friends and wrote one thing about each of them. This is what he wrote about me: “Oh A-Ray-A-Chang, the Chang Banger. He once decided to work at the Armani outlet for a couple of weeks to get the discounts. Then again, these are supposed to be interesting facts, and anybody who knows Ray would not be surprised by that. Ooops.” Now, as much as I laughed out loud while reading it and enjoyed the thought that people relate luxury to me, I am realizing how much I hate the fact that it is true. My life should look different, and I have been a poor witness and a poor steward in the things that I have bought and the lifestyle I have lived before coming here. I know that I am not over the high-brands that I have grown to appreciate and love over the years, but I also know that I need to get over such shallow pursuits of nothing – even though I’d like to think that I look really good in Hugo Boss and Armani. Its sad how much I have fallen in love with such futile things.

We are flooding again though. The rain just doesn’t seem to stop here. The community members are beginning to blame me, telling me that every time I come back, the town floods. This is the third time the town has flooded and the fields have become ruined. If I wasn’t so sad that my community keeps losing their livelihoods, I’d be laughing because of how ridiculous this is. This time last year, the water source had dried out because of the lack of rain. When I think about that, I’m glad that it’s been raining. Who knows how horrible I’d smell if I had no water to bathe with, even though the water that comes out of the faucet is always brown and dirty. It’s like taking baths in chocolate water – at least chocolate milk would leave your skin feeling silky soft. Try Quik with water sometime, it’s gross.

Fortunately though, I have a rain water catchment system. I have started to collect Dasani and Aquafina bottles. It’s amazing how those two brands of water made their way here. Coca Cola is truly amazing (who makes Aquafina?) – their reach is incredible. So everyday, I wake up, grab a bottle that’s been filled with rain water and brush my teeth with the toothbrush that a cockroach has probably been playing with during the night. How do I know? When I go out of the house for several hours, the cockroaches appear in my favorite places: 1. my sink where my cookware and toothbrush are, 2. my bathroom where I do my duty and usually find myself naked to take a shower, and 3. my bedroom where I walk in the dark to find my bed. I use my iPod as light to scare off any bugs that have found a nest atop of my Thermarest and stinky sheets.

Speaking of stinky. I have devised a system where I take showers out of a bucket. And here’s the awesome part – the bucket showers are warm water! Yes folks, I heat the water up before I bathe now so I don’t have to shiver when I am bathing. It takes me three full pots to be heated with boiling water, but its worth the 25 minutes before I take a shower. Now, I enjoy scooping up my water with a small plastic bowl that used to be filled with dishwasher soap out of a 5 gallon paint bucket. Plus, I conserve water this way. It’s win-win. I win and so does nature. Unfortunately, after I do take warm water showers, I sweat immediately after I get out because the temperature isn’t favorable to my body heat. What can I say, I’m just a hot beast.

I hate how serious I’ve become. It feels like I don’t know how to have a good time anymore. I’ve become an old man. In fact, I just want to sleep all day and rest. Is that so bad though? Really… Someone pour me a scotch or a glass of red. Please.